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Mount Vernon IDA discusses standardizing cost-benefit analysis and updating UTEP; staff to seek third-party models
Summary
The board discussed adopting a more rigorous, standardized cost-benefit analysis and updating its Uniform Tax Exemption Policy (UTEP). Members referenced a model used by Worcester and suggested issuing an RFP for third-party analysis to better forecast school-district and city fiscal impacts.
Mount Vernon IDA members discussed steps to standardize their cost-benefit analysis and to revise the Uniform Tax Exemption Policy (UTEP) to better predict fiscal impacts on the city and school district, staff said.
Board members and staff said current practices do not provide adequate, consistent analysis when reviewing PILOT requests and that several projects in the pipeline make it urgent to adopt a more repeatable, conservative approach. Staff reported they had met with representatives from Worcester (a peer agency) and received model documents, including an amended UTEP and a mitigation/analysis study, which staff found useful as a starting point. The board discussed possibly engaging a third-party consultant to perform a customized analysis for Mount Vernon and acknowledged that a typical study could take several months and would likely require an RFP and standard procurement steps.
Members also raised related transparency issues, including a website listing that labeled a project as “market rate” when the applicant's pro forma defined some units at 90% of area median income (AMI). Board members said the website should accurately reflect project characteristics — for example “affordable/mixed-income” — and staff agreed to correct public-facing wording to match transactional documents. The board requested staff estimate costs and timelines for a consultant-led study and bring an RFP draft and procurement timetable to a future meeting.
